When The Punisher: One Last Kill begins, Frank Castle is in a dark place. The anti-hero's PTSD has overwhelmed him, but after battling Ma Gnucci, the vigilante seems to find a new purpose.
After choosing to save a young girl rather than enact his revenge on Ma, The Punisher returns to his war on the criminal underworld. With that, the stage is set for Frank to take centre stage in this July's Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Talking to ScreenRant, actor Jon Bernthal dropped some big hints about how the vigilante's mission has evolved and what that means for him in the MCU moving forward.
He explained, "I think through the course of this day with that little girl sort of giving him the gift that she does, and for him to go pass that along and put that trinket of hope, that trinket of life, of gratitude, of love on his daughter's grave, it's the first time he hasn't put a trinket that belonged to somebody that he killed for his daughter."
"And so maybe by helping other families stay together, by fighting for justice, by keeping people safe, maybe he can honor his family that way," Bernthal continued. "And I think that that is a real big step for him."
"I don't think Frank will ever be in a place of love or light or comfort or ease. I don't think that that's something that he's ever been, that he's looking for, but I do think he'll find different ways to honor them."
Rumours have pointed to Spider-Man: Brand New Day pitting The Punisher against the Department of Damage Control. That may be a result of him stepping in to protect the young woman played by Sadie Sink, which makes sense based on the new outlook Bernthal is hinting at here.
"After this special, I think you're going to get a version of him going after the bad guys, going after the people that are causing harm and havoc to good people," he teased. "I think he's going to be able to start personalizing that. And with Frank, when he personalizes something, it's something to deal with."
This points to Frank heading down a more traditional "superhero" route, which lines up with what we've seen in the comics over the years. So, how much do you want to bet he steals War Machine's armour from the DODC to fight The Hulk?
In his Special Presentation, as Frank Castle searches for meaning beyond revenge, an unexpected force pulls him back into the fight.
The Punisher: One Last Kill is now streaming on Disney+.